A VILLAGE row has escalated to the point where an Arborfield landlord was asked to leave his local shop for speaking publicly against the store owner’s plans to build flats.

Dave Woodwards, who runs the Swan Inn in Eversley Road, was among 120 shoppers who turned up to a meeting called to discuss plans by Geoff and Steve Futcher, owners of Arborfield Stores, to knock down the existing shop and post office and build a smaller version with the addition of nine flats.

The Futchers claim to have lost around £130,000 in takings over the past year because of traffic problems caused by the building of the roundabout at Arborfield Cross, which was initially too large for lorries to get round.

But last Wednesday many of the people who turned up to the meeting at the village hall, in Eversley Road, claimed the shop could run at a profit if it stocked more groceries.

And there were cheers from the crowd when Dave Woodwards, who runs the Swan Inn further up Eversley Road, said: “We lost a lot of money through the roundabout too but my customers have come back.

“It might not have happened if they had things on the shelf that people want to buy.”

Others claimed there were “no guarantees” that the post office be included in the new plans, while immediate neighbours said the proposed flats would be intrusive.

Cllr Gary Cowan, district councillor for Arborfield, said: “If you look at the dimensions of the new block of flats the roof height would be much greater than it is now.

“All the houses in Melrose Gardens would be overshadowed by these new flats. There would only be three parking bays for customers and people would use the road and it wouldn’t be safe.”

Meanwhile Ray Morris, who lives behind the shop in Melrose Gardens, said he was not convinced the plan had been drawn up in response to last year’s traffic problems.

He said: “If this is approved it will be just 15 metres from my house.

“If you look at the small-print the date stamp at the bottom is from July, which means they have been planning this for at least nine months and probably more. The whole thing stinks from top to bottom.”

Frank Rawlings, another villager, added: “A village without a shop will slowly die”.

Mr Woodwards claims he was barred from the shop when he went in on Saturday night to buy a National Lottery ticket.

He told The Times this week: “I was told I shouldn’t have the nerve to come in here after the way I attacked the shop on Wednesday night.

“I was accused of lying but I didn’t lie — the whole room agreed with me. There was freedom of speech at that meeting and I only said what everyone thought.”

But Geoff Futcher denied Mr Woodwards was permanently barred and hit back at the criticism, saying there was no evidence to back up some of the claims made by residents.

He said: “Mr Woodwards was asked to leave because my wife didn’t like the way he was talking — he’s not been barred.

“Most of the people at the meeting are not shop regulars which makes you wonder. I thought it was much too personal — it was out of order.

“Gary Cowan was worried about the paper boy losing £30 a week but what about the money we have lost?

“It’s incredible. Everything in our plan is well within the permitted distances. Most of the tirade was personal and vindictive.

“Everyone runs out of stock now and then and lots of people say it’s a nice convenience store.

“I didn’t like the way people were inferring we had this planned all along. We’re not developers in

disguise.”

Aborfield Parish Council’s planning committee has voted unanimously to recommend refusal of the outline application when it appears before Wokingham District Council’s planning committee.